AIM

MSN

Website URL

ICQ

Yahoo

Jabber

Skype

Steam

Location

Interests

Hello Chipsters,
I've been heading down a slippery slope lately, and don't feel I am mentally "fit" enough to keep running CC Zone for much longer. My tenure for CC Zone has been 3 years, and I personally feel it is time for me to step down as Site Owner and Administrator. The site isn't going to close down. It will stay functional until I find a successor, but there seems to be a "demon" lurking inside me and the Tom who adored Chip's Challenge is no longer present.
I'm not a perfect creature. I've made mistakes, and have had a bit of a "dark" vibe inside me for quite a while. As the years have passed, the positives have diminished, which is ironic because I originally created CC Zone: The Next Level to give myself some purpose in life and cure my severe depression. It worked for the first year, but after that I haven't really been doing a good job with keeping the site functional and looking after the Chip's Challenge community effectively. I still haven't done all the "Level-Up" rankings and given out all the correct CC Zone awards to members for example.
I can't say I deserve to be forgiven for the many bad things I have done. I don't believe anyone starts evil though. I certainly didn't, but that's how I feel about things.
If you are interested in becoming the new CC Zone owner/administrator, just reply in this topic or PM me on CC Zone.
Tom P (AdrenalinDragon),
CC Zone Site Owner/Administrator

We had two competitions last April, one was a time trial with two levels, and the other was a create competitions with a boat theme. The activity here slowed down a bit towards May, so the results for these competitions were delayed. I investigated the situation a bit and Rock was able to provide the necessary information and gave me the go-ahead to announce the results. It's unlikely, but if further information turns up that might have been lost, the results will be adjusted accordingly.
The create competition was announced by Lessinath, and the submissions were to be sent to rockdet. There was a single entrant, Ida! You win again! So far that's three wins out of three submissions over the years. Not bad Maybe you scared away the competition? In any case, your level was original and clever, so it would have stood a good chance even if it wasn't the only entry, and we did check that it met the criteria for the competitions too (like being solvable in both ms and lynx, and you even went for the extra awesomeness, by finding a way to make the boat sink). I guess we should give everyone the chance to try the level, right? Well, Ida can post it herself, or we can wait a bit longer and find it in the soon to be released set of all the create levels from 2012. Sound good?
I'm afraid the time trial results aren't quite as exciting. We did have double the number of entrants than in the create comp, so there's that! The two levels were created by rockdet and submissions were accepted a couple of weeks into May. Second place goes to Mike L with times of 208 + 51 = 259, and first place goes to M11k4 with 213 + 54 = 267. Hey, that's me! Yay, I win *does a dance* Anyway, we'll try to post the quickest solutions on the CCZone Youtube channel in the near future, along with some other stuff.
Hope to see you all again competing in 2013!
-Miika
EDIT: should also mention that Ida's level's name was "All day, all night, keep watch!" and that Mike L has now been awarded the "Run, Chip, Run!"-award.

Discuss the "so called" end of the world which was supposed to happen today on December 21st 2012!
I am so disappointed. Many others prepared themselves for this, but maybe it's another day. Who knows?

Time Trial
NOTE: Version 1.07 of the December 2012 Time Trial is the latest release. This is the version that must be used for the competition!
December 2012
Name of levels: "The Cage" and "Ice Cap"
MS or Lynx: Lynx
Time Limit: 500 and 800, respectively
"The Cage" - by Tom Patten
"Ice Cap" - by Tom Patten
Deadline: 25th December 2012 - 12:00 a.m. GMT
Download: http://cczone.invisi...-december-2012/
TWS solutions and AVIs will be accepted for this competition. Please send them to me at AimRCTtom@aol.com. The participant with the best combined time - the most seconds remaining across both levels - will be declared the winner. Enjoy, and have fun chipping!

For the first Christmas competition on CC Zone, the level that needs to be designed is a...
Large Christmas Tree
The level must have a minimum of 16 chips and one socket. Keys and recessed walls are optional, but the only monsters allowed are Bugs, Paramecium, Pink Balls, and Walkers.
Blocks are allowed but not block cloners.
Door switches and trap buttons are allowed.
Tanks and tank buttons are not permitted at all. No monster cloning at all, but dirt, gravel, water, and two thieves are allowed.
The time limit must be exactly 300 seconds. The exit is a requirement and the level must be solvable in both MS and Lynx.
Bonus marks include adding the following:
Custom tileset graphics (MS minimum)
Random Force Floors
All uses of boots/footwear
Star on top of Christmas Tree
Tree stump and ground
The deadline for the competition is 24th December 2012 12am GMT. Please send your submissions to AimRCTtom@aol.com

These three levels were submitted for the Create Competition for September 2012. For details see
http://cczone.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/515-september-2012-create-competition/
The levels were submitted in this order and they also happened to be placed in the compeitition in this order. You can comment or submit your best times below.

September 2012 Create Competition: The Setup
As summer is over for most of us, what better time to take part in a new create competition?
The task, should you accept it, is to create a new level with a puzzle that has two phases. In the first phase, you are to set up something that then affects what happens in the next phase. The second phase then relies on what happened earlier, but with the key difference that whatever was set up earlier can't be changed any longer. Thus the level must contain decisions or elements in the first phase that may not be altered in the second.
So as a basic example, Chip might carve out a path in dirt, and then leave the area through a popup wall to press a trap button, which releases a monster that then travels along the cleared path and helps Chip in some way. The clearest example of such a level from CCLP3 is possibly Fireball Tourism.
Additional notes:
-the distinction between phases must be clear.
-there may be more than one phase, or groups of phases.
-the time limit may be at most 400.
-your best solution should be less than four minutes long.
-the level must be solvable.
-the level does not need to work in both ms and lynx.
-the level must be new; it must not have been released earlier.
-ask about other unclear situations.
Extra credit: if the puzzle is really good!
A good puzzle does not have a trivial solution, though it may have more than precisely one solution. It's goal is easy to grasp, yet it is interesting to solve. It is elegant and simple in design, and thus not too complex and convoluted. It is original and creative, though it may explore a previously known concept. Making an ideal puzzle is almost impossible, but keeping it straightforward and fun will go a long way.
Submissions are open as long as it is September where you live! Submissions will be judged in the beginning of October 2012. You may enter more than once, though similar entries may be disregarded. Points will be deducted from late entries, but will be accepted until a notice is posted in this thread. This competition is part of the Chip Cup 2012 (see other thread for more details).
In addition to the normal prizes (like the forum award), the winner (and possibly another randomly chosen entrant) will recieve a SURPRISE REWARD which will be announced later!
Email and attach your submissions to valeosote at hotmail dot com.
List your username and this competition in the subject. Keep it short and simple, something like: "September Create - Lessinath"
Everyone is welcome to join!

Treasure Hunter
March 2012
Name of level: Chip Plank Galleon
To be played in Lynx
Time Limit: 400
Created by Tom Patten
Deadline: April 15th, 0:00 ET (GMT -5)
Link: http://cczone.invisi...ter-march-2012/
Rules of the competition:
- Your TWS recording should be sent to: rocket_rg@msn.com
- This focuses on item collecting.
- Using keys on doors deducts points.
- It's not necessarily the fastest time that wins.
- Collecting specific items give your points.
- A global leaderboard will be used to judge the final winner.
- You MUST finish the level.
- The points are:
Green Key - 2 points
Red Key - 3 points
Yellow Key - 5 points
Blue Key - 10 points
Time bonus - 1 point for every 5 seconds left on the clock.

Time Trial
March 2012
Name of levels: "Chiptropolis" and "My Friend's Maze"
MS or Lynx: MS
Time Limit: 400 and 250, respectively
"Chiptropolis" - by Tom Patten
"My Friend's Maze" - by Josh Lee
Deadline: April 1, 2012 - 12:00 a.m. GMT
Download: http://cczone.invisi...ial-march-2012/
TWS solutions and AVIs will be accepted for this competition. Please send them to rockdet at rocket_rg@msn.com. The participant with the best combined time - the most seconds remaining across both levels - will be declared the winner. Enjoy, and have fun chipping!

All CC Zone January 2012 competition entries from today onwards are no longer accepted. The winners will be announced in less than a week.
If you are still interested in trying the entries out, they are now in the "Archived" section of the Download database.